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Moonlit Water

     Ravenna waits until Kaidan is long out of view before fleeing back into the comfortable darkness of the prison tower. The less-than-welcoming number of Stendarr's Vigilants that passed them by during their chat made her uneasy and while she's never been caught by them before, she knows she must be careful to have the advantage of the night in case they somehow noticed her secret. As rested as she's going to get sleeping next to a brazier in a moldy abandoned prison and feeling utterly grimy, Ravenna finally retreats from hiding when the moons are out to watch over her again as she pushes on towards the artfully concealed Rosewood Estate in Falkreath hold. Unfortunately though, she doesn't make it very far. After passing by Valtheim towers and on the road towards Whiterun, she sees them up ahead, waiting eagerly. A large group of the Vigil of Stendarr have congregated in the middle of the road and the hairs on the back of Ravenna’s neck stands on end as dread rises in her chest. They are likely there for her, but she is a wise deceiver, and knows better than to show her hand so soon. So she walks toward them, as confident and nonchalant as she can feign being, and does not look at them, making as though to pass by without interacting at all. She has to hold back from clenching her fists in anxiety as she starts to physically walk past the six paladins, forcing herself to keep her cool, but one of them stops her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Hold, citizen," he greets in a tone that is just unfriendly enough, "Our leader believes he's seen a vampire travelling this way. It isn't safe to be on the roads this late at night. We'd like if you could state your reasoning, if that's alright?" His tone becomes increasingly sinister and Ravenna has to come up with a good lie on the spot or she knows they won't let her go. They might not, anyway.

"I'm a scholar of magic," she begins, cursing herself internally for the way her voice wavers just slightly, "And I’m afraid one too many late nights at my college have instilled a habit in me to-"

"It's her," a smaller, female paladin interrupts from behind Ravenna, and when she turns to look at the Vigilant, she is holding up a spell of Detect Dead in one hand. "She's the vampire."

". . . Shit," is all Ravenna can say for herself in the brief moment of calm before the storm springs to life. Ravenna takes off running towards Riverwood, using an Oakflesh spell to protect her and trying to dodge the swings of swords and maces and bolts of magic sunlight as the six Vigil try to converge on her at once. They all give chase and Ravenna, Mara save her, cannot run very fast for very long even with her supernatural capabilities. She is also unwilling to try to fight them off - killing a group of Stendarr's paladins to save herself is contradictory to all her personal beliefs, despite her fierce desire to live this ugly half-life. Her only option is to lose them in the dense forest of Falkreath hold. As her Candlelight spell fades, Ravenna puts some of her faith in the cover of the night and relies on her supernatural eyesight instead - a choice she normally would not make to appear more human. The darkness and the moons make it easier to sprint more than if she was in broad daylight, helping her put distance between herself and them but still they are hot on her heels, slinging spells and brandishing their weapons in their efforts to kill her. Hoping to shake them off, Ravenna sprints ahead as far as she can to the Riverwood bridge, stopping at the edge of the water only briefly to see if they are still close behind her before slowly stepping onto the surface of the water.

Ruby Eyes

     Her Godfather, Viggo had once told Ravenna how incredibly fortunate she was to be able to tread across the water's surface. The ability is rare in Skyrim's strain of vampirism, according to him, but she has seldom felt it useful until right now. Slowly and quietly, Ravenna walks under the bridge, standing still and hiding as she Vigilants storm towards her and begin to search. For several long minutes she hears nothing but their footsteps; on the bridge above her, in the grass on the riverbank, and all around. Eventually they stop looking, and convene on the bridge, directly above her head. She hears them muttering to each other about what they will do to find her, and, cautiously, Ravenna pokes her head out to peak up at them. She is horrified to see one of their faces staring directly back at her as they rest over the ledge, and she narrowly manages to jump out of the way before fire leaps from their palms at her. Four paladins leap over the edge of the bridge, putting Ravenna in a difficult situation as she is only able to walk on the surface of the water, not run. She considers charging the water with electricity but fearing the risk of killing them, refrains. As they move towards her, she reluctantly turns to her magic to escape, using her Frostbite spell to chill the water and the paladins in it. Frost forms on their armor and clothes, and they wrap their arms around themselves instinctively. Even though they reach for her ankles as she walks away as quickly as she can their cold fingers fumble and they will have no choice but to cease their pursuit from here or risk hypothermia. The remaining two run to the other side of the bridge to wait for her. Ravenna cannot out-walk them on the water before morning, she has to move, so she walks to the logging mill island in the middle of the lake where, back on land, she can run from them again.

     As soon as her feet touch the grass Ravenna is moving again, sprinting past Riverwood up the road and breaking off into the forest as soon as she crosses over into Falkreath. The paladins are further behind her now, but still following, and Ravenna knows she can't keep up the chase for much longer. Somewhere in the middle of the hold forest, Ravenna runs out of strength and collapses, hiding in the hollow of a dead tree while she recovers. She can hear the noises in the forest that indicate her pursuers have not given up. Realizing they've lost track of her, she can hear that they've slowed down and begun to search for her more carefully. She hears something else. The sound of leathery wings flapping, drawing near, until a giant black bat flies overhead of her hiding spot. Then the wing flapping stops and the smell of iron is in the air, followed by the heavy sound of feet hitting the ground. Someone has planted themselves right between Ravenna and her pursuers, and she is so confident she knows who that she draws out of her hiding place to see him. Standing there at his full height of nine feet tall and guarding her hiding spot is Viggo - her Godfather, who barely spares the two paladins standing a few hundred yards away a brief look of irritation as he waves one hand, a dim grey glow briefly surrounding his fingers the only indication of the spell he casts. At his command the forest floods with a thick fog, obscuring the paladins' view of them to just vague silhouettes and red eyes piercing through the mist like fluorescing rubies. With a flicker of green magic Viggo commands the trees to spread their branches and obscure the stars, depriving the Vigilants of their last means of navigation before leaving them to wander the woods. Finally as they depart, he addresses his kjördóttir.

"Are you wounded, dóttir?" He asks.

Pretty Little Liar

     "Em fint, Vordir, just exhausted. You arrived in the nick of time," she expresses her relief. Viggo is an intimidating man; massive, built like an ox, and deathly pale. Even without the violent ruby gleam of his hard glare, the false abyssal black that represents his natural eye color has a chilling way about it that always unnerves people. His strong jawline - despite more often than not being hidden under a dark beard - and high cheekbones make him look like someone sculpted out of marble, even with the lines around his eyes and mouth that show his age, and it all exudes an absence of humanity that, for most people, speaks to the most anxious and fearful parts of their human selves. But Ravenna is not most people, and where other people would be intimidated by his presence Ravenna is instead comforted.

"Do you know how they know?" He asks next as they hurry out of the woods and onto the road towards her estate.

"Not off the top of my head," she replies, "I spoke with them briefly and they said they were looking for a vampire travelling southeast into Whiterun hold, then one of them used a detect dead spell on me. Perhaps they were looking for a different vampire and I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Without more information such details do not matter," says her sire, "All that matters is that they will hunt you, and you must be prepared to evade them. You can never be caught off guard."

"I know," she sighs heavily. Ravenna is really in it now, and she has no idea how she's going to get out of it without killing the Vigilants, but she'll have to. She will not harm innocents, and the Vigil of Stendarr's cause is ultimately just; where vampires are concerned, Ravenna is often the exception and not the rule. As they approach the cliff face in southern Falkreath where the portal to the estate is concealed, Viggo speaks up once again.

"At least you've been alone until now," he looks down to his kjördóttir, "Haven't you?"

"Oh no," is all Ravenna can say as the realization that she has not been seen alone by the Vigil claims every corner of her consciousness, "Oh no no no."

"Oh, my dear dóttir," Viggo begins long-sufferingly as he opens the way into the estate with a gesture, "Your charisma never fails to be your greatest ally, and most betraying one."

"It was only for a couple hours," she says, panicked, "I helped him out on my way here and then we chatted, that was all!"

"But if Stendarr's paladins saw you together, they may suspect him of vampirism or daedra worship as well," her sire points out.

"I know," Ravenna growls, distressed, "I need to hurry to get cleaned and redressed. He said he was going to Dead Man's Drink in the hold capital, I may be able to get him out of my mess."

"The sun will have risen by then," Viggo hisses scoldingly, "If you get into a fight with them, you will lose. You know I will always save you, dóttir, but . . ."

"I'm not going to like how, I know," she acknowledges, "Hopefully it won't come to that. I have an idea."

Ravenna hurries through a bath and changes out of her ashlander clothing, packs her bags and runs out into the agonizing sunlight, leaving the concealed Rosewood Estate behind again to rush to the aid of her swordsman.

A short hike down the road to the hold capital later, Ravenna is bursting dramatically through the door to the inn, where, sure enough, Kaidan stands crowded by three paladins of Stendarr. They must have only just managed to pin him down.

"Kaidan!" She cries in exaggerated distress as she rushes toward him, wrapping her arms around his waist and trying not to hit her head on the plates of his stomach armor - poor Kaidan looks so confused. She pulls her arms back around to his front and leans against him like some kind of lover. "Is it really you this time? Those things tricked me! I have no idea when they even separated us!"

Life Debt

     ". . . You're alright, Love?" he says tenderly, and as he plays into her bluff and pulls her more against himself Ravenna has to hold back a sigh of relief. Yes! He got it!

"Yes. Those face-thieves didn't hurt you, did they?" She asks, simultaneously giving Kaidan a more tangible story to sell if he needs and attracting the perked up ears of the no-longer-hostile paladins exchanging confused glances around them. "No, I-" Kaidan begins, but is interrupted by one of the Vigilants.

"Excuse me miss, but what do you mean ' face-thieves'?" He asks.

"Honestly I'm not completely sure what they were either," she answers. Vagueness is a risk but sometimes it's better to let your audience fill in the blanks on their own. If the paladins start coming up with the answers themselves, Ravenna has already beaten them. "There were two of them, I don't know if they were using illusion magic or what. Maybe like those creatures in Reachfolk legends that steal people's skin and replace them?"

"More likely just clever vampires trying to separate and feed from you using disguises. We've had an encounter with at least one in that region these last couple of days," the paladin assures them, "We must have seen your beau with it earlier. Sorry for the trouble, both of you. Stay safe." Hook, line, and sinker.

     As soon as the Vigilants have cleared out of the inn, Kaidan pulls Ravenna into the room he's renting and shuts the door behind her.

"What," he snarls out, "The fuck was that?"

Kaidan is crowding her space and caging her in against the door with one hand on the handle. The vampiress struggles for words. "I just - I was worried after they found me that they'd try to interrogate or hunt you too after seeing us together. The Vigil aren't exactly known to be forgiving when they suspect someone of daedra worship or vampirism. And you only just got away from the Thalmor."

"It'd be a lot easier to believe you if you hadn't just made a show of how skilled a deceiver you are," he points out ruthlessly.

"You already know I'm a vampire, what more could I possibly hide from you," she counters, "Either kill me yourself or don't and move on."

Kaidan watches her for a moment, thoughtfully chewing his lip. Finally, he draws away from her and moves to sit on the edge of the straw bed of the inn.

"In almost any other situation, I'd take you up on that," he warns, but the heat has left his voice, "What do you plan to do now?"

"How in oblivion would I know? If they see me traveling without you they'll pursue me again," Ravenna groans, "If they see you travel alone, that's worse because they'll know they were deceived."

"Well," Kaidan begins, "I see only one solution for you then."

Ravenna looks at him curiously.

"I'm surprised you care," she says, "I thought you were fine to leave me to the wolves."

"I still owe you a life debt. Maybe two now, I haven't decided yet."

"Very well then, Kaidan," Ravenna begins, "I suppose we'll be together from here onwards."

"I suppose we will," he says.

                                                               ~~~

     They need to leave Falkreath, but have to wait for the cover of night, and since they've just made themselves look like a couple in front of all the inn's patrons, it'd be unusual for Ravenna to leave Kaidan's room after their talk just to get her own. She's certainly not about to bring Kaidan into the estate just yet either and they have to stay together, so they make do in the tiny room where he's been staying. Kaidan insists she take the bed while he sleeps in the chair, siting that she's the one who actually needs to sleep during the day, and he's too big for it anyway. Next evening, they get up and prepare to leave, and after they chat with the innkeep to take up a bounty contract on their way out, they are stopped by one of the taverngoers who had been present in the crowd the night before. He is an imperial, of average height and slight build, with wavy blonde hair and goatee.

"Erm, excuse me sir, madam- I don't normally do this, but have you both got a moment to talk?"